


Forgotten Dance

by SansyFresh



Series: Fresh's Babble Collection [36]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Graphic Torture, Graphic Violence, Happy Ending, Heavy Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Panic Attacks, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-13 03:54:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14741534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SansyFresh/pseuds/SansyFresh
Summary: He screamed. No one came.





	Forgotten Dance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadyPterosaur](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyPterosaur/gifts).



> This was an art trade with the wonderful LadyPterosaur ^^ I hope this was satisfying, Nurse XD
> 
> Please read the tags, very serious content.

Sockets blinked open, eyelights slowly sharpening to a small blur. Honey could hear the faint sounds of movement through the hall outside his room; someone was likely moving along from the back of the house to the kitchen. Edge would be up by now, making breakfast, Cash likely helping him with a scowl even as Edge taught him the intricacies of making a good egg scramble. 

 

Pushing his face down into the pillow, he breathed deep, willing himself to go back to sleep; he could still see light through the window, so it was much too early. But as the faint smell of a good home cooked breakfast began wafting through his room, he knew the others wouldn’t be letting him stay in bed much longer. Well, mostly Edge, but probably Twist as well. Knowing the two of them, they’d been up for at least half the day, and would remain up all night. And they said he had terrible sleeping habits.

 

Chuckling to himself, Honey pushed himself up and onto his knees, sitting back and stretching out his back until it popped, a satisfying crack resounding through the room.

 

“Do ya have ta do that, sweetheart?”

 

Honey looked back with a smile, flopping backwards and looking up to find Twist grinning down at him, eyelights soft. 

 

“Do what, twisted?”

 

Twist rolled his eye, stepping closer until his legs hit the edge of the bed, leaning over him. “Do ya have ta crack yer bones like that? Puts a shiver through ma spine every time, sweetheart.”

 

Honey snickered, sitting up and throwing his legs over the side of the bed. “I can try. Did Edge make breakfast?” He really didn’t need to ask, but conversation was still something he cherished, after living so long alone. Twist watched as he got dressed, sockets narrowed in thought.

 

“Yeah, he and patches made a nice breakfast. Are ya…” He paused, long enough that Honey glanced over.

 

“Am I what?”

 

Twist frowned. “Are ya goin’ somewhere today?”

 

Honey looked down at his heavier clothing and grinned. “Yeah, why? You need me to pick you up something while I’m in town?” Moving toward the door, Twist stepped in behind him as they headed down the hall. 

 

“I don’ know that it’s a good idea ta go by yerself, sweetheart.”

 

Honey frowned thoughtfully. “I did it before. Don’t see why I wouldn’t be able to now.” Opening the door to the kitchen, he grinned as he took in the fresh smells of homemade biscuits, sizzling sausage, and egg scramble. Cash and Edge still stood at the stove, plating up food and giving each to Slim, who had already set the table. 

 

“Morning sweetheart.” Slim called as he set down two more plates, grinning wickedly as Honey flushed, taking a seat. Twist sat across from him, Slim sitting beside him as the other two finished bringing the food to the table.

 

The food was delicious as always, Honey blushing warmly with every compliment thrown his way as they all ate, the lot of them grinning wickedly. Soon after he was finished, however, he stood, giving Edge his compliments as he took his plate to the sink before moving for the door. Edge nodded, though he watched carefully.

 

“Are you headed out this evening?” Edge’s voice was calm, not at all condemning, but Honey couldn’t help the way it irritated his soul. 

 

“Yes, I need to get some new books.” Without another word he left the room, ignoring the sound of conversation behind him. Heading for the front door, he slipped on his boots and coat, and was in the process of pulling on his gloves when the sound of someone clearing their throat behind him sounded. Without turning, he shoved his hand through the glove and put on his cap.

 

“I don’t need a bodyguard.”

 

Slim shifted, uncomfortable. “We know that, but...we’d feel a lot better if-”

 

Turning and opening the door, Honey looked back with a firm smile. “I can do it myself. Thank you.” Stepping out, he pointedly did not look at Slim’s disappointed (worried) face, shutting the door behind him before moving down the porch. He was down the road a few paces when he turned, hands clenched at his sides.

 

“I think I know when I’m being followed.”

 

Cash stepped out of the brush, face impassive. “If that was true you’d have noticed a lot sooner than now.” He gave him a meaningful look, one that Honey ignored in favor of actually, for once, mustering up the energy to be angry.

 

“I am fully capable of walking myself to town and grabbing a few books. I’m over two thousand years old! I can handle myself for one day!” There was a lot more venom in his voice than he’d meant, so much so that Cash flinched back as if struck before taking a step back, nodding once.

 

“If that’s what you want, then…”

 

Honey opened his mouth, ready to apologize, to say something to get rid of that awful look of hurt on Cash’s face, but the hunter had already started back up the road, not really jogging but not walking slowly either. His mouth shut with a click, sockets becoming misty as he swallowed back the lump in his throat before turning and continuing down to town.

 

The walk was meaningless, his soul numbing further with every step he took. Guilt slowly ate at him, even as he tried to console himself with the fact that they shouldn’t have been so damn pushy about it. He could take care of himself! It wasn’t like he was some weak mortal that couldn’t take two steps without hurting themselves.

 

The library was silent, not many others around this late in the day. He perused the shelves, taking his time in an effort to clear his head of the increasingly guilty thoughts, only for the festering feelings to roll over each other, increasing in size and potency until he was nearly in tears, panic making his soul stutter in his chest.

 

Stumbling from the library, he moved into an adjacent alley, hand clutching his aching, constricting chest as the panic peaked, tears flowing from his sockets as he breathed raggedly. A voice spoke behind him, the words garbled as they bounced around his oversensitive skull, making him stagger to the wall in an effort to get away from it. They followed, hands landing on his shoulder, his arm, and suddenly something was on his face, covering his mouth, a sharp, rancid odor pushing through everything with a vehemence. 

 

Weakly, he tried to fight back, only for the hands holding him to tighten, dragging him further into the alley. Dark spots crowded what remained of his blurry vision, his consciousness failing, until the deep voice speaking next to his skull faded out with the rest of the world.

 

~.~

 

It was dark. An endless black void surrounded him, only broken by the faint outline of a lighter gray above him, making what looked like a window. It left him disoriented, his arms spastically pulling at their bonds until he realised that they were in fact tied down. Taking slow, deep breaths to calm himself, Honey blinked his sockets, making sure they were in fact open. Nothing seemed to be covering them, that he could feel at least, and he could see the vague outline of the window above, just...nothing else.

 

It shouldn’t have been this way...he’d always been able to see just fine in darkness. But here he was, sitting in what felt like a hard backed chair, arms tied down with rough coils of rope, otherwise blind.

 

He’d not felt fear, actual, not panic driven fear like this in...it had to have been centuries. Jerking in his bonds, he tried to loosen the rope, only to pause as he heard a movement on the other side of the room. Listening closely, he heard the sounds of someone walking around, shoes scraping against hard ground, before they moved closer and the sound of a knob turning filled the space around him. Light blasted through the opening, Honey’s sockets forced closed from the sudden intensity, though he heard someone walk in and shut the door again behind them. Blinking, he looked forward, only to find that, once again, he was blind.

 

There was the faint sound of breathing, cloth against cloth, and then steps toward him. They stopped just in front of his chair, the sound of jangling metal replacing everything else. Nothing happened for a moment, Honey waiting with a clenched jaw, trying his hardest to see, trying to not break down and cry. Then the breathing was in his face, puffs of air hitting his cervical vertebrae. The unpleasantness of that only lasted a moment before what felt like a chain was fastened around his naked throat, the chill soon turning to a stinging, burning agony.

 

Honey gasped, cried out, jerked in his bonds as the metal began eating in his vertebrae, the silver hissing as it made contact. He screamed as the door opened and shut once again, leaving him in darkness and agony.

 

~.~

 

It’d been days. Or at least, in his pain hazed mind, it felt like it’s been days. The chain was still eating into his throat, the pain making him feel almost drunk, his voice hoarse from screaming and the sobs that still tear from him when the combination of pain and fear gets to be too much.

 

Suddenly the door opened, light blinding him just long enough for it to shut once again, someone walking up and yanking the chain from his neck. He almost cried from relief, only to choke and sputter as a wave of chilled water splashed over him, burning the welts and cuts in his vertebrae. 

 

There was silence for a moment, before he was blinded once more, this time from above. He only gets a second to look up into it before he’s screaming again, thrashing weakly in his chair as sunlight filters down, burning his bones. It striked everything it touched with a force, his very bone sizzling in the open air. Just when he thought he was about to pass out from the pain, it was gone, and he was back in the darkness. The door opens, and they leave him, his bones still sizzling in the dark. 

 

~.~

 

It repeated, sometimes the sunlight left on his bare body, sometimes the chain being wrapped around his arms, neck, legs, ribs. Every time he sobbed. Every time he screamed, from the pain, for help. No one came. He came to dread the light, shied back in fear everytime it shone, body tensing at the thought of some new pain. His body covered in welts, marrow, and bones melted in places. 

 

When it hit him that he was going to die here, he stopped crying.

 

~.~

 

The door opened, light shining through with just as much intensity as the first time it’d happened. He didn’t care. There’s a set of footsteps towards him. He didn’t care. They stop just in front of him, pausing. He didn’t care-

 

“Honey?”

 

The shaky, tremulous nature to the voice made him open his working socket, eyelight faintly flickering into life as he gazed into the light of the still open door. Why was it still open? 

 

“Honey, can you hear me?”

 

He blinked, looking up to the source of the voice. How long had it been since he’d heard someone speak? Since he’d heard a voice other than his own screams?

 

“It’s okay, Honey, we’re here, you’re safe.”

 

Purple. Actual color. Soft and loving. 

 

He smiled. 

 

~.~

 

Leaving the inky blackness of unconsciousness only to find an actual room around him was startling, putting it lightly. There was a gentle light coming through white cotton curtains, shining over beige walls and a light pink bedspread. He stared down at the soft sheets and comforter that were covering him from the chin down. Attempting to move his arms, or legs for that matter, lead to nothing but exhaustion pulling at him. Still, as far as he could tell he wasn’t actually tied down. He could escape, he just had to get out of this bed-

 

The door on the opposite wall opened, Honey panicking for the slight moment it took for him to realize that the figure entering the room was Cash.

 

Tears sprung to his sockets unbidden, a sob escaping his throat as pure relief flooded his soul. Cash glanced over at the sound, a tired expression on his face before his sockets widened, the bowl of what smelt like soup in his hands splashing a bit as he all but threw it on a side table, rushing to the bed and gathering Honey in his arms. 

 

Honey couldn’t help but melt in the hold, even as it made his bones ache. He didn’t care about the pain. Not when he was home.

 

"Aw, shit, are you okay?" Cash pulled back, worry clouding every other emotion swimming in his features. Honey smiled wobbily up at him, sockets dripping with tears.

 

"N-never better."


End file.
